Peter Schiff Calls for Investigation into Trump's Role in Cryptocurrency Scandal
Date: 2025-03-05 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
He believes that those with prior knowledge of the former president's March 2 statements could have made a significant profit.
A well-known Bitcoin critic claimed on the X social network that Trump became the first "crypto president" by helping pull off a massive pump and dump scheme. In this regard, Schiff suggested that Congress find out key details of the possible manipulation.
On March 2, Trump announced on Truth Social that the US cryptocurrency reserve would include Solana, Cardano, and XRP, and later added that it would also include Bitcoin and Ethereum. These statements led to a sharp increase in the market, with individual assets growing by tens of percent. However, the next day, quotes fell, as many investors doubted the reality of the declared crypto reserve.
Schiff is demanding an investigation into who exactly posted on Trump’s behalf, who knew about these posts in advance, how much was invested in XRP, ADA, SOL, BTC, and ETH before the announcement, and whether there were insiders who sold their assets at the peak. He is also demanding disclosure of any correspondence related to these posts, including messages from Trump administration officials, their family members, donors, or Truth Social employees.
SkyBridge Capital co-founder Anthony Scaramucci supported Schiff, saying that Trump’s actions are harmful to the crypto industry. He has already criticized the former president for the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, which appeared two days before his inauguration.
The TRUMP token caused outrage among crypto market participants and was condemned by regulators as another unethical way to monetize political influence. However, in late February, after a series of scandals, the new SEC leadership appointed by Trump issued a statement that memecoins are collectible assets and are not subject to regulation under securities laws.
According to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young-ju, the digital asset market is increasingly becoming an instrument of US geopolitical influence. He noted that since Trump came to power, universal ethical standards have weakened, and priority is now given to national interests.
He also emphasized that the cryptocurrencies listed in Trump's posts have close ties to the US through their founders or headquarters. This could lead to a situation where state-backed assets begin to dominate international projects. Ki believes that Bitcoin and Ethereum, positioned as global neutral assets, now find themselves in an uncertain position - "neither friends nor foes" of the American state.
